The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1887-05-14
No. IL.
scALLoP FISHING.
How One of the Rare Delfcacfes of fhe
Eastern Markets is Obtained.

How One of the Rare DeIicacfes OF fh@
Eastern Markets is Obtained.
Though it had long previusly been
enjoyed by the shore towns in New
England, the introduction of the seal
Iop as an edible into the New York
markets is as recent as 1858 or SO.
Now the annual product of the fishery,
which is restricted in area and subject
to much variation, amounts to some
thing like 5000 gallons in all, worth
from twenty-five to thirty thousand
dollars t first cost; and New York re-
ceives and dispenses about three
fourths.
The species of scallop in question is
Pectea Irrddidns, which is common in
suitable places all alohg our coast
Besides this there are half-a-dozen
other varieties, living at more or less
depths in the Western Atlantic, one of
which. the great Peeten tenuicostatus of
the coast of Maine and the Bay of
Fundy, was formerly highly valued by
the people of that region. but now is
too scarce to appear on the tables of
even 1.-The rich except at rare inter-
yals
Seallops are caught by hand-dredg-
ing from small sail boats. The dredges
are about thirty inches in width, have q
scraper blade upon the bottom, and in
favorable weather several may be
thrown over from each boat. In shoal
7ater an iron-framed dip net is some
times used on calm days 1t is pretty
hard work, and entails exposure to very
severe weather.
k.Js 10 <.f 1,ae -
/ the senarish mass of muscle the
/ adductor) which holds the shells
/ together, and this part is skillfully cut
l out by "openers, who have their
houses at the landing places where the
| dredgers take their cargoes to be sold.
1t is the buyer, not the dredger. who
"opens or ..cats out the meat and
prepares it for market In some places
/ men alone are employed in this work,
al others women and girls for the most
/ part, and they will earn from eighty
cents to s1.25 day. The work is per-
! formed with great dextesity. The
motions of an expert opener are but
/ three after the scallop is in hand The
bivalve is taken in the left hand. palm
up. with the hinges of the scaIlop
towards the openers body. The knife
"a simple piece of steel ground sharp,
and with one end stuck in a wooden
handle-is inserted in the opening of
the shell furthest from the breast The
upper -teye' is severed through BY this
movement A fiirt at the same moment
throws of the upper shell. The second
motion cuts the lower fastenings of the
eve to the upper shell and takes the
soft and useless rim of. The last
motion pitches the shell into one barrel
and the soft and Shiny rim into another
while the eye Is thrown into
a basin of yellow stoneware
holding gallon. They are thea
poured from the basin into a large
colander. thoroughly washed, placed
in clean boxes and shipped to New
York and Brooklyn. As little fresh
water or ice is placed in contact with
the meats as possible. asst is thought
detrimental to their frnness and flavor.
, As this is altogether winter operation.
, the help of ice in transportation is not
usually needed.
) There is. or ought to be. no waste in
the scallop fishery. On Long Island
I the refuse is taker by the farmers as
manure. The sea-faring agrieulturists
have always been accustomed to re-
plenish their half-exhausted lands with
the scrapings of the beach. and with
: the menhaden and other seine-fish which
/ could be caught plentifully enough for
2 the purpose in the offing-mueh to the
! disgust of every stranger who found
: himself to leeward of their fields. This
demand failing, there is always sale for
the refuse to the regular fertilizer-fac-
/ tories scattered along the shore.
4 The shells are preferred above all
: others by the oyster-planters as
a stools or ..cultehf to spread upop
: their deep-water planting beds as OBJ
s iects upon which the oyster-spawn may
{ ..set' and grow. This wise preference
! is due to the fragility of the seallop-
: shell, permitting it to break into
= pieces under the strain of a CROWN g
/. cluster of oysters, each one of which
!, will be benefited by the separation,
y which frees it from the crowding of It's
4 fellows and gives it room to expand by
!. itself into comedy and valuable rotun
- dity. instead of remaining a strap
!, shaped distorted member of a coales
d cent group. All their shells. therefore
ef can easily be sold by the openers t.
:. the oystermen at from three to fv,
= cents u brlshel.-ErneSt I,agerso9, d
le 4nericars Naturalist.